How big does a Honey badger get? Here is an overview over the average adult age:
A grown Honey badger (Mellivora capensis) reaches an average size of 68.4 cm (2′ 3″).
When born, they have an average size of 0 cm (0′ 0″). During their lifetime of about 26.5 years, they grow from 210 grams (0.46 lbs) to 9 kg (19.84 lbs). Talking about reproduction, Honey badgers have 2 babies about 2 times per year. The Honey badger (genus: Mellivora) is a member of the family Mustelidae.
As a reference: Humans reach an average body size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) while carrying 62 kg (137 lbs). A human woman is pregnant for 280 days (40 weeks) and on average become 75 years old.
The honey badger (Mellivora capensis), also known as the ratel ( or ), is a mammal widely distributed in Africa, Southwest Asia, and the Indian subcontinent. Because of its wide range and occurrence in a variety of habitats, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.It is the only species in the genus Mellivora and in the mustelid subfamily Mellivorinae. Despite its name, the honey badger does not closely resemble other badger species; instead, it bears more anatomical similarities to weasels. It is primarily a carnivorous species and has few natural predators because of its thick skin, strength and ferocious defensive abilities. It is listed as the “world’s most fearless animal” in the 2002 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records.
Animals of the same family as a Honey badger
We found other animals of the Mustelidae family:
- Tayra with a size of 61.4 cm (2′ 1″)
- Beech marten with a size of 46 cm (1′ 7″)
- Asian small-clawed otter with a size of 51.6 cm (1′ 9″)
- Smooth-coated otter with a size of 78.8 cm (2′ 8″)
- Eurasian otter with a size of 68.9 cm (2′ 4″)
- American mink with a size of 36.6 cm (1′ 3″)
- Neotropical otter with a size of 60.2 cm (2′ 0″)
- Colombian weasel with a size of 21.5 cm (0′ 9″)
- Marbled polecat with a size of 31.9 cm (1′ 1″)
- Southern river otter with a size of 59 cm (2′ 0″)
Animals with the same size as a Honey badger
Not that size really matters, but it makes things comparable. So here are a couple of animals that are as big as Honey badger:
- Crab-eating raccoon with a size of 60.3 cm (2′ 0″)
- Pygathrix bieti with a size of 71.8 cm (2′ 5″)
- Culpeo with a size of 72 cm (2′ 5″)
- African golden cat with a size of 79.9 cm (2′ 8″)
- Canada lynx with a size of 70.4 cm (2′ 4″)
- Gray snub-nosed monkey with a size of 70.7 cm (2′ 4″)
- Tehuantepec jackrabbit with a size of 54.9 cm (1′ 10″)
- Black colobus with a size of 62.9 cm (2′ 1″)
- Mandrill with a size of 75.8 cm (2′ 6″)
- Pallas’s cat with a size of 57.3 cm (1′ 11″)
Animals with the same litter size as a Honey badger
Here is a list of animals that have the same number of babies per litter (2) as a Honey badger:
- Pronghorn
- Gaumer’s spiny pocket mouse
- Texas kangaroo rat
- Fraser’s musk shrew
- Northern pygmy mouse
- Guaira spiny rat
- Common yellow-toothed cavy
- Burmese ferret-badger
- Mountain mosaic-tailed rat
- Lesser bamboo rat
Animals with the same life expectancy as a Honey badger
Completely different animals, but becoming as old as a Honey badger:
- South Asian river dolphin with an average maximal age of 28 years
- Red-tailed monkey with an average maximal age of 28.25 years
- Blue wildebeest with an average maximal age of 21.5 years
- Chamois with an average maximal age of 22 years
- Red deer with an average maximal age of 26.75 years
- Geoffroy’s spider monkey with an average maximal age of 27.25 years
- Himalayan tahr with an average maximal age of 21.75 years
- Père David’s deer with an average maximal age of 23.25 years
- Eurasian lynx with an average maximal age of 26.75 years
- Buru babirusa with an average maximal age of 24 years
Animals with the same weight as a Honey badger
As a comparison, here are some other animals that weight as much as the Mellivora capensis:
- Grey-cheeked mangabey with a weight of 7.39 kilos (16.29 lbs)
- François’ langur with a weight of 8.16 kilos (17.99 lbs)
- Doria’s tree-kangaroo with a weight of 8.98 kilos (19.8 lbs)
- Collared mangabey with a weight of 7.29 kilos (16.07 lbs)
- Mountain paca with a weight of 9 kilos (19.84 lbs)
- King colobus with a weight of 8.7 kilos (19.18 lbs)
- Black-backed jackal with a weight of 8.29 kilos (18.28 lbs)
- Andean mountain cat with a weight of 8.13 kilos (17.92 lbs)
- Preuss’s red colobus with a weight of 8.91 kilos (19.64 lbs)
- Mantled guereza with a weight of 9.96 kilos (21.96 lbs)